Saturday 7 March 2009

Stop Press - First for Britain in Leicestershire!!!

This stunning Blue-winged Kookaburra Dacelo leachii was found at the Twycross 'Natural Surroundings Nature Reserve' in north-west Leicestershire last week, attracting a large crowd of admirers. Spokesman for the Leicestershire and Rutland Otorhinolaryngological Society, Mr Eric Twatt, said "We think the bird may have been blown off course by strong winds whilst migrating."

The bird is believed to be still present at the time of writing. A full write up of this unexpected first for Britain will appear in the Twitchers' Chronicle and Gazette next month.

The Blue-winged Kookaburra in its 'natural surroundings'. Note the clearly captive (and obviously completely untickable) Puna Ibis in a cage behind it.

23 comments:

beast said...

You sure that ain't a sib thrush in the background Andy?!

John Judge said...

If it were a Mastercard advert would it be
Sibe Thrush £250
100 birders first day £300
300 birders second day £900
Profit £950
Watching birders rant on a forum
PRICELESS

The Leicester Llama said...

Were there really that many people who went to see it? Un-fucking-believable. Although £3 is a lot cheaper than the price of entry to the annual Cage & Aviary Bird Exhibition at the NEC - but then again you get to see a lot more birds in cages there...

beast said...

Itz a feckin chuckle!...unless, of course, you went for it....in which case you wud not be amused! If the 'rumors' of the sibs origins prove to be true....then let the mayhem commence....[more mayhem than there seems to be already i mean]...

Have 'heard' that 'summats up' with this 'bird'....only time will tell if itz all bollox or not...we shall see eh! All very intriguing...

Skev said...

Before all the doubters all huffy about this superb first for VC55, note that there is absolutely no visible sign of abrasion to the primaries, the mandibles appear in perfect condition with no abnormal feather loss in the basal area, and there is no evidence of an abnormally long hind-claw. I for one will be hoping it sticks around so I can add it to my spotters list - thanks for ensuring that the news was not restricted to the Leicester Birding Mafia.

The Leicester Llama said...

As far as I know it's still there Mark, but it'll cost you 11 quid to get in.

Re the Sibe Thrush, as the Punkbirders have pointed out with their references to 'the Cley Square Mega Release Squad', that area of north Norfolk has a history of turning up very rare birds at very unlikely times of year. Still, no-one's forcing anyone to go and see them...

beast said...

Ahh...but...Andy....

If any sort of Norfolk Mafia 'was' involved ...then maybe some 'were' forced to go and see 'said' bird. Maybe 'some' woke up 'on the day' to find a severed bloody mallards head on their pillow. Perhaps 'an offer' was made that they couldn't refuse....n all that mafioso type bollox thing...
[am getting a mental image now of RM in Cley with cotton wool stuck in his cheeks n talkin like Marlon feckin Brando....bloody hell...someones juz walked into RMs room and is kissin his ring......finger]. Itz gruzum i tells ya!....[am not referring to anyone's cock when i say itz gruzum].....

JH said...

I think it's unacceptable unless it shows its hind toes. I am a bit amazed it wasn't at a WWT reserve though.

beast said...

Andy...don't know if you know....but BForum now has one o those 'clicky-link' things on they're sib thrush thread...plus....it seems?...that a sib thrush escaped from somewhere in the Mids recently...[unless itz a 'spoof' type o comment]!

ps....Zod came up 'with a good-un' the other night down pub about 'caged' birds....he reckoned that there might be some sort of 'offer' on at the moment....'Buy one...set one free'...! Fuckin chuckle.......!

Anonymous said...

One has to wonder at the provenance then of the White's Thrush reported in The Birstall Post from a Birstall Garden...

beast said...

Didn't know about 'that' reported white's thrush..

'Apparently' this 'escape' sib made itz getaway from Kettering...don't know if it had in itz possession a map of Norfolk tho..!

ps..I believe that a mass outbreak of 'thrush' can be treated with a certain ointment....somethin' like 'canestan' or 'canoworms'... [or is it juz 'thrush-be-gone']?!

The Leicester Llama said...

That'll be why my hits have suddenly shot up then.

I hadn't heard about a White's Thrush in Birstall either - did they offer any kind of proof (e.g. a photo), or was it just taken at face value that the person who reported it knew what they were talking about?

Even if it was proved that it was one, I'd still be very doubtful of its origins.

beast said...

Even fuckin' Darwin wud struggle with some o these 'origins'......! Perhaps itz 'creationism'......ha!

Anonymous said...

It's a Mistle Thrush, seen by a non-birder feeding out on the lawn and then flew off showing clean white underwing. It was claimed to be 'bigger' than a Mistle Thrush by someone who knows what a Mistle Thrush looks like.
Ken said -tounge firmly in cheek - at the LROS Committee meeting last night that it's not the first White's Thrush for Birstall!
I know that the garden in question is an open lawn it doesn't have any impentetrable scrub, vegetated ditches and no geos. I will pass on the article to Steve for him to laugh at.

The Leicester Llama said...

It's certainly not the first White's Thrush to be reported in Leics - when Roger Davis was county recorder he had a report (in August I seem to remember) that simply said: "Three White's Thrushes at Beacon Hill this afternoon. This is a confirmed sighting."

The best ones I had when I was county recorder were a Crested Lark on Burbage Common, and some bloke who insisted he'd had an Azure Tit in his garden in Stoneygate!

Come to think of it, that's where 'beast' lives...

beast said...

Andy....there are loadza 'tits' in Stoneygate.....i saw one only this morning.....lookin' in the mirror....fuckin 'orrible it wuz....ugly four eyed monster with an inane silly grin on itz face...frightened the life out of me!

Azure Tit you say?...blimey....if i were ever to claim one o them in stoneygate i give you permission now to stab me thru the heart with a telescope....[itz the only way to be sure that you've got rid of a stringy birder]....!

ps....noticed yer 'items' on ebay....not one copy of 'razzle' for sale?!

pps...'porn fairy' update: still no confirmed sightings or 'signs' of this now very elusive species...

Anonymous said...

Sadly beast I think Porn Fairy is lost as a regular species in VC55.

beast said...

The porn fairy seems to have been replaced round my way by the 'fly-tipping fuckwit'....this elusive cunt left 5 mattresses and several plastic containers full of out of date frozen lollipops which...if i see the twat...i will stick straight up his bony arse till his eyes drop out n roll on the floor...[unless of course...he's a big heavy lookin twat...in which case i'll probably say...'nice day for getting rid o yer rubbish ain't it']?........

ps...by the way...sib thrush soap opera continues..itz more like a game of bastard 'cluedo'...'Mister [or missus] Clueless...did it in norfolk...or maybe Kettering...or in the Bahama's...with a pair o wire cutters or a blow torch...etc....
fuck me...is there no end?....itz kinda like the series 'Lost'....

ps...has anyone found a 'plot'?...i've lost one...

Russ Malin said...

White's Thrush reminds me of a tale of two well known local birders then in their late teens/early 20's at the time, Aylestone Meadows on a foggy afternoon, a Mistle Thrush, and two very vivid imaginations. Obviously I cannot name names (but it wasn't me)for, to quote El Presidente, legal reasons........

Jeff Higgott said...

I have to admit that if some tosspot dumped a load of lollipops on my doorstep I'm not sure I'd be curious enough to check that they were out of date!

I wonder if beast would have had a much more optimistic "IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!" outlook if they were 'in date' until August??

Jeff Higgott said...

...whilst on the subject of thrushes I seem to remember a RUMOUR that Britain's primary importer of Naumann's Thrushes lived in Chingford.

Never came to anything though, and it's still ON MY LIST.

Norfolk Sibe is, in my opinion, hugely suspect though. Mainly cos I saw one on Orkney and it cost me a lot of money.

beast said...

Jeff........obviously my curiosity/horror got the better of me when i 'stumbled over the stash' of lollipops on my local patch! I really couldn't believe wot i was seeing! Mattresses are a fairly 'common' dumping 'tick'...don't need it for my list...[5 of them together tho was a startling 'fall' and represents my greatest total ever....am guessing they might have been 'forced down' in the night by adverse weather conditions whilst migrating overhead...of course they may have meant to land on the airfield nearby and overshot the runway].'The' lollipops, in such large numbers n still boxed up, were unprecedented...tho have found evidence of lollipops on my patch before....usually just the shedded skin...or wrappers as they are commonly called.

ps...i remember the 'rash of rumors' about the 'Chingford Thrush'....i believe those rumors soon disappeared after an application of ointment..'canoworms' cream i think itz called...tis available at all leading chemists...and perhaps the uk400club....

pps....see you at the next Lou Reed gig Jeff....if the old fucker lives long enuff...bless him and his velvet underground heart...

Jeff Higgott said...

Yes - did enjoy seeing Mr. Reed in Leicester.

As for mattresses, they are also sporadically common over in East Anglia. Given their appearance on roadside verges at any time during the year I think they are more the result of local dispersal than migration.